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Journalism of Courage
If we do not get it perfectly right the first time,we will just duck the opportunity the next time. With the mindset of a banana republic,an instinct to unresponsively hush allusions to ones own weak points,the Central government appears keen to time out Indias long-held hopes of aiming big to host the crucial sports events. There are less than two weeks to go for bids to be submitted to the Olympic Council of Asia to host the Asian Games in 2019 and 2023,and the Union government is still not committing to Indias bid. After 2014,the Asian Games will be held a year after the Commonwealth Games,and a year before the Summer Olympics,to allow athletes a fairer competition schedule. If the government does eventually withhold the requisite letter of intent for the Indian Olympic Association to keep Indias chances alive,it would amount to not just denying the next generation a chance to get on the global sport map. It would also be a confirmation that the government has not learnt from the mistakes in hosting the CWG.
If the CWG preparations underlined one thing,it was this: hosting events of the order of the CWG,or Asian Games or Olympics,is a political undertaking. It is not,and cannot be,left to the national Olympic association. It is,admittedly,a daunting task. At just the level of sport infrastructure,it needs the keenest coordination at the highest level,of the sort that was not forthcoming from the Union urban development and sports ministries for the CWG. It asks of the national government a vision for the host city. It requires the leadership to visibly throw their weight behind the event not just to plan their diplomacy in getting the requisite votes,but also make and own the case for hosting the event. Thats a tough undertaking,but one routinely owned by forward-thinking regimes.
